Seriously ill asylum seeker flown to Brisbane from Manus Island

An Iranian asylum seeker is reportedly fighting for his life in a Brisbane hospital after he was urgently transferred from Papua New Guinea's Manus Island detention centre.

The 24-year-old is believed to have developed a serious skin infection and was transferred to Brisbane on Wednesday. The man, whose name is believed to be Hamed Khazaei, is now in a serious condition at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane.

Manus Island detention centre: A seriously ill asylum seeker has been flown to the mainland for treatment. Photo: Supplied

According to The Guardian Australia, the man contracted a cellulitis infection, a common bacterial skin infection. But his condition worsened when the bacteria began to enter the bloodstream, known as severe septicaemia.

It comes as a group of asylum seekers on Christmas Island detention centre have written to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison asking him to give them temporary protection visas.

The Immigration Department confirmed the man had been transferred for medical care. But a spokeswoman for the International Health Medical Organisation (IHMS) would not comment on the man's condition, saying they needed his man's family consent.

The Royal Australian College of Physicians said the health of people in offshore detention was at risk because of their limited access to appropriate health services and the harsh conditions of the detention environment.

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"The RACP is concerned by ongoing reports of delays in transferring people in detention with serious health concerns to receive appropriate specialist care. This must be addressed immediately," a spokesman said.

"Without effective, independent and expert medical advice, it will be increasingly difficult for the government to respond to health issues in the offshore detention centres. This is now what we are seeing."

Mr Morrison said the man had been transferred for urgent care to Port Moresby before being taken to the Australian mainland on Thursday.

"On the advice of the clinical team, including the department's health service provider IHMS, it was recommended that he be transferred to the Australian mainland to receive further specialised care," he said.

"The family of the man has been informed and is in regular contact with the hospital.

"For privacy reasons, further details are not able to be provided.

"The department's chief medical officer is reviewing the background to the transferee's condition and medical care while at (the Manus detention centre)."

The standard of care provided by IHMS was called into question during the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry into children in detention earlier this month where evidence given to the inquiry showed the levels of medical care in immigration detention were often below Australian standards.

In May, a former Salvation Army staff member on Manus Island, Simon Taylor, claimed IHMS were giving asylum seekers a type of anti-malaria medication by staff that detention centre staff had been warned not to take.

Asylum seekers' TPV plea

During the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry into children in detention last week, Mr Morrison said he would not be releasing asylum seekers from Christmas Island until the Senate agreed to a temporary protection visa.

A letter from 25 asylum seekers held on Christmas Island pleads for their release.

"We have been in detention center over one year. Our families haven't seen us all that long time even by photos, so we can't stay more and more in this kind of life, that's why we are agreed and happy about temporary protection visa."

"This detention, this prison, this life is very very bad for children, teenagers and adults. All of us have mental health problem, and we need psychologist."

"So please, if you really think that we don't have to stay long time in detention center, accept with the government to give us TPV, then when we will get out, you will see our case if we deserve permanent or still temporary," the letter continues.

The TPV has been widely criticised by human rights advocates for its cruel and degrading treatment of asylum seekers since it was first introduced by the Howard government in 1999.

Under the TPV scheme that ran for nearly a decade, every asylum seeker who arrived in Australia without a visa was given a TPV, which provided no certainty, and was told to reapply for another visa in three years.